According to the report, policies are "creeping into every corner of students' academic and social lives", with 55 per cent of the 115 institutions surveyed marked 'Red' by the magazine.

'Red' indicates an institution that has "banned and actively censored ideas on campus", with Amber indicating an institution that has "chilled free speech through intervention". A 'Green' university has a "hands-off approach to free speech".

The survey reveals an increase in the number of universities marked as 'Red', rising from 41 per cent in 2015, while the number of universities marked 'Green' has fallen from 20 per cent in 2015 to 10 per cent this year.

The analysis looks at both the policies and actions of universities and students' unions.

Traffic-light rankings

Institution

Institution Ranking

University Ranking

Student Union Ranking

Total Bans

Aberdeen

AMBER

GREEN

RED

1

Abertay

AMBER

GREEN

RED

1

Aberystwyth

RED

RED

RED

5

Anglia Ruskin

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

1

Aston

RED

RED

RED

0

Bangor

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Bath

RED

RED

RED

1

Birkbeck

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Birmingham

RED

AMBER

RED

2

Birmingham City

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Bournemouth

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Brighton

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

1

Bristol

RED

AMBER

RED

2

Brunel

RED

AMBER

RED

3

Bolton

GREEN

AMBER

GREEN

1

Cambridge

AMBER

GREEN

AMBER

2

Worcester

GREEN

AMBER

GREEN

1

Cardiff Metropolitan

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Cardiff University

RED

AMBER

RED

4

Chichester

AMBER

RED

GREEN

0

Coventry

RED

AMBER

RED

0

De Montfort

AMBER

GREEN

RED

0

Dundee

RED

AMBER

RED

2

Durham

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

1

Edge Hill

AMBER

AMBER

GREEN

1

Edinburgh

RED

AMBER

RED

5

Edinburgh Napier

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Exeter

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

1

West of Scotland

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

1

Glasgow

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

2

Glyndwr

RED

RED

RED

0

Goldsmiths

RED

AMBER

RED

2

Imperial College London

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Kent

AMBER

AMBER

GREEN

2

King's College London

RED

RED

RED

4

Kingston

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Leeds Beckett

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Leeds

RED

RED

RED

5

Leeds Trinity

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Liverpool

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

2

Liverpool Hope

AMBER

GREEN

RED

0

Liverpool John Moores

RED

AMBER

RED

0

London Met

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

London South Bank

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Loughborough

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

LSE

RED

AMBER

RED

5

Manchester

RED

AMBER

RED

3

Middlesex

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Newcastle

RED

AMBER

RED

4

Nottingham

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

3

Oxford

RED

AMBER

RED

4

Oxford Brookes

AMBER

GREEN

RED

1

Portsmouth

RED

RED

RED

1

Queen Margaret University

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Queen Mary

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

2

Queen's Belfast

RED

AMBER

RED

2

Buckingham

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

0

Roehampton

RED

RED

RED

0

Royal Holloway and Bedford New College

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Sheffield

RED

AMBER

RED

4

Sheffield Hallam

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Solent

AMBER

GREEN

AMBER

0

St. Andrews

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Staffordshire

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Stirling

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Strathclyde

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

2

Surrey

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Sussex

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Swansea

RED

RED

RED

5

Teeside

AMBER

AMBER

GREEN

1

The City University

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Manchester Metropolitan

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Nottingham Trent

AMBER

GREEN

RED

2

School of Oriental and African Studies

AMBER

GREEN

RED

1

Canterbury Christ Church

GREEN

GREEN

AMBER

0

Bradford

RED

AMBER

RED

2

University of East Anglia

RED

AMBER

RED

3

Essex

RED

RED

RED

1

Huddersfield

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Hull

RED

RED

RED

3

Keele

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

1

Leicester

RED

AMBER

RED

3

Lincoln

RED

AMBER

RED

2

Northampton

RED

RED

RED

1

Northumbria at Newcastle

AMBER

GREEN

RED

3

Plymouth

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Salford

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Glasgow Caledonian

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

0

Robert Gordon

GREEN

AMBER

GREEN

0

Wolverhampton

RED

RED

AMBER

0

Sunderland

GREEN

AMBER

GREEN

0

University College London

RED

AMBER

RED

4

Bath

RED

RED

AMBER

1

Bedfordshire

AMBER

GREEN

RED

0

University of Central Lancashire

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

1

Chester

RED

AMBER

RED

3

Cumbria

RED

AMBER

RED

0

Derby

RED

AMBER

RED

2

University of East London

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Gloucestershire

RED

AMBER

RED

1

Greenwich

AMBER

GREEN

RED

0

Winchester

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

0

Lancaster

RED

AMBER

RED

3

Reading

RED

AMBER

RED

1

University of South Wales

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Hertfordshire

GREEN

AMBER

GREEN

0

West of England, Bristol

RED

RED

RED

2

Southampton

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

0

Ulster

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Trinity Saint David

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

0

Warwick

RED

AMBER

RED

2

University of West

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

0

Westminster

RED

RED

AMBER

1

York

AMBER

AMBER

AMBER

2

York St John

AMBER

GREEN

RED

1

Data has been taken from Spiked magazine

Today's figures reveal that student unions (SUs) are far more likely to censor speech or ideas than the universities themselves, with 62 per cent of SUs marked as 'Red', compared with 15 per cent of universities.

It comes as the #RhodesMustFall campaign continues to escalate at the University of Oxford - marked as 'Red' by Spiked magazine.

The campaign follows a series of attempts by students' unions to ban speakers, including Germaine Greer, for their controversial views.

A student wears a sticker calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes from the campus of the University of Cape Town Photo: Reuters/Mike Hutchings

In the past three years, institutions have enacted 148 bans, according to the report, with 30 institutions banning newspapers, 25 banning songs, 20 banning sports clubs or societies and 19 banning speakers or events.

According to today's report, the five 'most restrictive' universities are: Aberystwyth University, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Leeds, the London School of Economics and Swansea University, while the five 'most free' universities are; the University of Winchester, the University of Southampton, University of Wales Trinity St David, the University of Buckingham and Glasgow Caledonian University.